4.7
The notebook already on every iPhone and iPad, with no extra bill.
Free handwriting and typing if campus already gave you an account.
Best for free notebooks with a university microsoft account
Reviewed 16 September 2026 · Prices checked the same day
4.4
210K reviews
OneNote is free with a Microsoft account, which most universities hand out. Microsoft 365 Personal is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year if you want the rest of Office, checked 16 September 2026. Handwriting search works well.
Past a few hundred pages the notebook-section-page hierarchy becomes a filing problem of its own. The alternatives are more opinionated, and most of them cost money.
Pricing
free
$0 with an account; Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr
Free version
Nothing extra if you have a Microsoft account.
Platforms
Windows · macOS · iOS · Android
Familiar and unglamorous. Fine for lectures. Weak as a knowledge graph. Many students keep it as the handwriting dump and put recall somewhere else.
Checked 2026-09-16
| Model | Free |
|---|---|
| What free actually includes | Nothing extra if you have a Microsoft account. |
| Cheapest paid tier | $0 with an account; Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr |
| Student pricing | None published |
Links from StudyApps include ref=studyapps.
Nothing extra if you have a Microsoft account. Checked 16 September 2026.
Cheapest paid plan: $0 with an account; Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99/mo or $99.99/yr. Prices checked 16 September 2026.
Free notebooks with a university Microsoft account
Organisation gets messy at course scale
The notebook already on every iPhone and iPad, with no extra bill.
The iPad notebook default, with a three-notebook free ceiling.
Handwriting plus lecture audio on iPad, with Classic back as a one-time buy.